7 months ago
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The Tamil Nadu authorities connected Monday accused the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) of misrepresenting and concealing captious facts and deliberately attempting to suppress the series of events successful a writ petition filed by it successful the Madras High Court seeking a absorption to the State constabulary to registry First Information Reports (FIRs) connected the ground of accusation shared by it regarding stream soil mining offences.
In a presumption study filed earlier Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, the State said, the writ petition filed nether Article 226 (writ jurisdiction of High Courts) of the Constitution was not maintainable astatine each and that the ED ought to person approached lone the Supreme Court nether Article 131 which provides for resolving disputes betwixt the Centre and 1 oregon much States.
The ED functions nether the power of the Union Ministry of Finance and was an authorization empowered nether Section 49 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2012 to enforce the provisions of the legislation. “The ED, dissimilar the Central Bureau of Investigation, is not a seperately statutorily created agency. But it is simply a portion of the Government of India itself,” the presumption study read.
Further, stating that the ED does not person immoderate law rights that could beryllium espoused nether Article 226, the State said, 1 investigating bureau could not question issuance of a writ of mandamus against different agency. “Neither is the ED a juristic idiosyncratic nor tin it assertion enforcement of immoderate of the rights conferred nether the Constitution which is simply a prerequisite for the issuance of a writ nether Article 226,” it added.
ED’s missive to TN DGP ‘otiose’
Apart from the method objections, the State said, the ED had filed the contiguous writ petition lone due to the fact that the probe carried retired by it, connected the ground of unconnected FIRs registered by the State constabulary with respect to soil mining, did not find favour with the Supreme Court. Therefore, the missive written by the ED to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) had go otiose, redundant and nugatory, it claimed.
Providing the timeline, the State authorities said, the ED had sent a connection to the DGP connected June 13, 2024 urging the caput of the constabulary unit to instrumentality indispensable enactment connected the ground of accusation shared by it regarding soil mining offences. It was lone thereafter, the Madras High Court quashed the ED’s probe connected July 16, 2024 and the determination was confirmed by the Supreme Court successful September 2025.
“The attack adopted by the ED is thus, deed by the vice of the ineligible maxim suppressio veri suggestio falsi (suppression of information is equivalent to proposition of falsehood) and nether nary condition tin immoderate undue leverage beryllium accorded oregon wide latitude beryllium fixed to the ED simply due to the fact that of its perceived coveted presumption of being a cardinal agency,” the State told the court.
The authorities besides said, the invocation of the writ jurisdiction by the ED seeking reliefs against a State is simply a substance of sedate dismay and interest and that it impinges upon the national operation of the polity and Constitution. “The filing of specified a petition itself is unwarranted, unjustified and wholly untenable. Moreover the reliefs sought for are neither successful consonance with instrumentality nor are justified,” the study read.
Stating that the beingness of a predicate offence was indispensable for the ED to behaviour a probe nether the PMLA, the State authorities said, the cardinal bureau had already carried retired searches successful respective soil quarries and yards successful Tamil Nadu without determination being a corresponding predicate offence. “It was during the people of these amerciable searches that the ED claims to person gathered immoderate materials and records,” the State said.
The writ petition filed by the ED not lone warrants outright dismissal with exemplary costs, the tribunal indispensable besides walk strictures against the bureau for its conduct, the authorities said and alleged that the ED had harassed the State authorities officials astatine assorted level during the probe conducted by it regarding the soil mining contented connected the ground of 4 FIRs which were not adjacent remotely connected to the issue.
It said, connected December 12, 2023 an ED serviceman had fabricated and forged the logo of Government of Tamil Nadu connected a missive pad and forced a h2o resources section authoritative to motion the letter.
Checks and balances successful spot
Listing retired the checks and balances successful spot regarding stream soil mining successful the State, the authorities said, the full soil quarry cognition was being done by the authorities straight and nary permission, lease oregon licence was being fixed to immoderate backstage operator. Contractors were being engaged lone to excavate the soil from the riverbeds and transport it to the yards.
It besides said, a rigorous attack was followed earlier granting support for soil quarrying sites and the State authorities had instituted a State level monitoring committee, territory level task forces and Taluk level task forces successful bid to support a cheque implicit the mining activities. Therefore, the constabulary could not beryllium expected to registry FIRs, without exertion of mind, conscionable due to the fact that the ED had shared immoderate information, the State said.
Terming the ED a “wrongdoer” which had indulged successful amerciable searches and different specified activities, the State said: “In the garb of sensational accusations, the rules of procedural fairness tin ne'er beryllium overlooked oregon condoned nether immoderate circumstances. Merely due to the fact that a speculative study has been made the ground of ED’s inquiry, the aforesaid cannot beryllium termed arsenic a binding diktat connected the State to oblige and registry cases arbitrarily.”
After taking the presumption study connected file, the Division Bench adjourned the proceeding connected the writ petition to December 16 since ED Special Public Prosecutor N. Ramesh sought clip to record a rejoinder.
